Honey, Honey, Miss Thang PB

Using the first person accounts of five African American, drug-using, street-walking, cross-dressing gay hustlers, Pettiway, a professor of criminal justice at Indiana University, breaks free of some criminologists' tendency to view the marginalized as monolithically deviant, negative or hopeless. In his lengthy, moving introduction, Pettiway argues that the lives of his five subjects-Shontae, China, Keisha, Detra and Monique-are unique, individual experiences whose power, courage, faith, creativity and struggle for survival transcend mere sociological or criminological statistics. His goal is to present them ""more nearly as they experience themselves"" and to suggest policies that more closely address their understanding of who they are. The autobiographical chronicles reveal a complexity and depth, even when painful: Shontae, for instance, recalls being paid 50 cents to have sex with an older male cousin every Sunday and bargaining for an increase. Detra recalls her mother teaching her children how to bounce checks, and how one policeman, coming to confiscate stolen property, tried to keep the family from embarrassment by pretending he was taking it for repairs. The chronicles share common themes, such as strong bonds to mothers and, perhaps surprising to many, a strong streak of self-responsibility and accountability. China and Keisha echo each other, saying that they have no one to blame but themselves, while Shontae points out, ""I didn't have a disturbed childhood. It was not family beatings... they barely cursed."" (Nov.)